Telephone housing detail



May 9, 1944. H. I. BEARDSLEY 2,348,592

I TELEPHONE HOUSING DETAIL Filed Sept. 26, 1942 /N W? /V T 0/? H. BEARDSLEV 8V ATTORNEY Patented May 9, 1944 TELEPHONE HOUSING DETAIL Harry I. Beardsley, Chatham, N.- J., assignor to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 26, 1942, Serial No. 459,763

2 Claims.

This invention relates to housings for telephone instrumentalities and more particularly to structural means for preventing distortion of said housings. The invention is illustratively disclosed with respect to a housing for a combined telephone set and comprises a rib attached to the skirt portion of said housing for preventing the jamming of the flexible hinge between said skirt portion and'the flange of the base plate and also for retaining said-skirt in substantially parallel relation to said flange when the housing and base plate are assembled.

An object'of this invention is to prevent distortion of certain portions ofhousings for telephone instrumentalities, which housings are made from flexible materials such as those commonly known as plastics.

A more specific object of this invention is to prevent bulging of the skirt portion of a housing for combined telephone sets in the region adjacent the flexible hinge, which connects the housing to the base plate.

A feature of this invention resides in a notched rib so secured to the skirt or rim portion of a housing that it will prevent the flexible hinge from becoming jammed between said rim and a flange on the base plate and will also secure bing or other suitable material. The ends of the hinge are secured respectively to the housing and base plate by suitable fastening means.

As shown in the drawing, these may comprise the intermediate portion of the'wire retaining clamps l5 and I6 and the screws l1 and I8 which secure them respectively to their mountings.

As may be seen from the drawing and particularly Figs. 1 and 3, the flexible hi ge is made long enough to allow the'housing and base plate to be sufficiently separated so thateasy access may be had to all of the telephone instrumenthe rim to said flange by means of its notched portion.

Other and further objects and features of this invention will be more clearly and fully understood from the following description of an illustrative embodiment thereof taken in connection with the appended drawing in which:

Fig. 1 shbyvs a-combined telephoneset with thehousing removed from the base plate to show the hinge portion to which this invention is re Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of those portions of the housing and base plate adjacent the flexible hinge, the skirt or rim of the housing being shown at right angles to the flange of the base plate;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is also a sectional view similar to that of Fig. 3 but showing the housing and base plate portions in assembled relation.

Referring to Fig. 1, IB is the housing and II the base plate of a combined telephone set. The housing I0 is provided with a rim or skirt I! which is adapted to fit around the upstanding flange 13 on the base plate. Extending between This hinge-maybe made of flexible fabric, webtalities mounted thereon. As shown in Fig. 4, when the housing is fitted to the base plate the intermediate portion of the hinge is doubled over on itself. It was found in the use of this device that upon closing the housing on the base plate this intermediate portion of the hinge tended to jam between the housing skirt and the base plate flange causing said skirt to bulge outwardly. This distortion of the housing skirt besides being undesirable from the appearance viewpoint caused undue strain therein and in creased the likelihood of breakage. In order to overcome the aforementioned difficulties, the housing skirt I2 is provided with a rib 20 located between 'the skirt and the flexible hinge It. This rib 20 without in any way interfering with the action of the hinge forces the intermediate portion tliereof away from the skirt thereby preventing it from jamming. be-

tween the skirt and flange when the housing and base plate are assembled. In addition, the rib Z0 is notched at one comer, providing the prolection 2!, which is located to bear against the inside of the flange when the housing is closed, thereby snugly holding the-skirt against the flange; The rib 20 may be made integral with the skirt I2 or may be secured thereto in any suitable manner.

This invention is particularly useful with housings made of plastic and other relatively flexible material. Relatively light materials made up in comparatively thin sections whereever possible are employed in devices of this type in order to keep the over-all'weight down as much as possible. The use of thisinvention L Although this invention has been described by means of an illustrative embodiment thereof, it should be understood that it is not limited thereby, but by the appended claims only.

What is claimed is:

1. A container for telephone instrumentalities comprising a housing, a base plate, said housing having a skirt portion for fitting over a flange on said base plate, a'flexible' strap-like hinge connecting the housing to the base plate and secured to each, adjacent the skirt and flange, respectively, the intermediate portion of said hinge being adapted to form a loop within the housing when said housing is in place on said base plate, and a rib having a projecting portion, said rib being secured to said skirt adjacent the hinge and holding a portion of the hinge away from the skirt to avoid' jamming of the intermediate portion of the hinge between the skirt and flange, the projecting portion of the rib fitting over said flange to hold the skirt and flange together.

2. A container comprising a housing and a cover, said cover having an upstanding peripheralflange and said housing having a rim portion of relatively thin section for fitting over said flange when the housing is closed by the cover. a flexible strap hinge interconnecting the housing and cover and secured to each, adjacent said rim and flange, respectively, the hinge being of such length, that when the housing is, closed its intermediate portion forms a loop by bending l back upon itself, and means for preventing said loop from becoming wedged between said rim and flange upon closure of the housing, said means comprising an upstanding rib secured to said rim and located adjacent a portion of said hinge in a position to urge said portion away from said rim, said rib including a projecting portion for engaging the inner surface of said flange to hold said rim and flange together.

HARRY I. BEARDSLEY. 

